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62d Congress, \ HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, j Report 

^d Session. { I No. 546. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION 
DEPARTMENTS. 



April 13. 1912.— Committed to the Committee of the Wliole Hou^^e on the state of 
the Union and ordered to be printed. 



Mr. Lever, from the Committee on Agriculture, submitted the 

fohowing 

II E P O R T . 

[To accompany H. R. 22871.1 

The Committee on Agriculture, to whom was referred the bill 
(H. R. 22S71) to establish agricultural extension departments in 
connection witli agricultural colleges in the several wStates receiving 
the benefits of an act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, and of 
acts supplementary thereto, having considered the same, beg to 
report it back to the House with amendments and with the unani- 
mous recommendation that the bill as amended do pass. 

The object of the bill is to establish agricultural extension depart- 
ments under tlic direction of the land-grant colleges of the several 
States to aid in carrying to the ])cople useful and })ractica] informa- 
tion on subjects relating to agriculture and home economics through 
field instruction, demonstrations, publications, and otherwise. 

The Federal Government has committed itself em{)hatically and 
irrevocably to the policy of appropriating money to aid in the encour- 
agement, development, and preservation of agriculture, both in the 
maintenance of its most ellicient Department of Agriculture and 
through a series of legislative enactments endowing agricultural col- 
leges and establishing agrictdtural experiment stations in the several 
States. Thus agriculture has been recognized as of suj)reme impor- 
tance to the Nation, ami is so recognized by every thoughtful student 
of present economic conditions. 

Liberal as we have been toward ouj- agriculture, the fact remains 
that this Government expends less money for its encouragement and 
development, in proportion to its population and the extent of its 
agricultural area, than any nation of Europe, with the })ossible exce})- 
tion of Spain. It was recently pointed out, in a rehable farm journal, 
that less than 1 per cent of the annual total appropriations of the 
Government is expended for i)urposes of aiding agriculture — a most 
significant statement when agriculture is unquestionably the basic 



2-- 



2 AGRICULTUEAL EXTENSION DEPAETMENTS. 



^- 



industry upon which is buildetl every other industry and upon which 
is dependent the real prosperity of the Nation. 

The enactment of the fii-st Morrill Act, "for the endowment, sup- 
port, and maintenance of at least one colleg;e where the leadin"' 
object shall be * * * to teach such branches of learnino- as are 
related to agriculture and the mechanic arts," was epochal, being 
the first serious national effort to aid agriculture in a practical way. 
As a result of this encouragement and Federal recognition, every 
State has a well-equipped agricultural and mechanical college, train- 
ing its young men to solve agricultural and industrial problems. 

It was soon discovered that their peculiar didlculty lay in a hick 
of sufficient, definite, and exact scientific information. Realization 
of this insufficiency became so manifest and so insistent that the 
Hatch Act, establishing agricultural experiment stations, "to pro- 
mote scientific investigation and experiment, respecting the princi- 
ples and applications of agricultural science," was enacted 25 years 
after the land-grant colleges were authorized. Under this act agri- 
cultural experiment stations, devoting their energies to gathering 
scientific truths and exploding harmful fallacies touching agriculture, 
have been established in each of the States. 

Subsequent legislation has been confined to the enlargement of the 
funds for the furtherance of the fundamental ideas involved in the 
original Morrill and Hatch Acts, since the enactment of which the 
Federal Government has expended S67,000,000 upon these institu- 
tions, as follows: 

Statement showing the amount o/ money that has been expended by the Federal Government 
Jor State experiment stations and agricultural colleges. 

STATE EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 

Total amount expended under the Hatch Act from 1888 to June 30, 

1911 $16. 807. 338. 94 

Total amount allotted under the Hatch Act during the fiscal year 1912 

up to and including the quarter ending Mar. 30, 1912 540, 000. 00 

Total under Hatch Act 1 7, 347, 338. 94 

Total amount expended under the Adams Act from 1906 to June 30, 

1911 2. 828, 665. 21 

Total amount allotted under the Adams Act during the fiscal year 1912 

up to and including the quarter ending Mar. 30, 1912 540, 000. 00 

Total under Adams Act 3, 368, 665. 21 

Total for State experiment stations under both acts 20, 716, 004. 15 

STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 

Total amount paid from 1890 to 1912, inclusive, under the acts of Aug. 

30, 1890, and Mar. 4, 1907 28. 802, 000. 00 

Proceeds from sale of land 13. 348. 041. 00 

Value of unsold land (estimated ) 5. 042, 388. 00 

Total for agricultural colleges under both acts, etc 47, 192. 429. 00 

RECAPITULATION. 

Total for State experiment stations 20. 716, 004. 15 

Total for agricultural colleges 47, 192, 429. 00 

Grand total 67. 908. 433. 15 ^ 



AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 3 

When it is remembered tliat only a very small })er ceiU of the 
})ec)j)le can enjoy the direct benefits of these institutions, it is evident 
that the system of Federal aid to aojriculture is yet incom])lete. "The 
colleges deal with ideas; the stations with facts. The colleges teach 
theories of agriculture; the stations ])rove good theories and dis])r()ve 
j)oor ones." The stations gather facts of a })ractical and scientific 
natm'e: the colleges disseminate these facts, but only to limited 
numbers in proportion to the total rural population. 

Your committee believes that this bill is the next logical, necessary 
stej) to give this country the most comprehensive system of govern- 
mental aid to agriculture in the world. The central idea of the bill 
is to bring to the farmer, upon the farm, this information, these 
scientiiic truths, and these better methods of agriculture which the 
colleges and stations have been and are gathering. Past legislation 
has resulted in the accumulation of valuable agricultural informa- 
tion; this bill pro])oses to disseminate it in the most practical and 
far-reaching manner. 

Objection can not be urged to the bill on the theory that it proposes 
to commit the Government to a new and untried pohcy. It seeks 
only to give fuller force and more complete effect to the agencies 
already created l)y congressional action. Thirty-four of the States 
are now supporting, through their agricultural colleges, some kind of 
agricultural extension dej^artments; l)ut, as urged before the com- 
mittee, the moral effect of tlie aid of the Federal Government u})on 
this line of work will be of incalculal)le value in further extending and 
])romoting it. 

The bill has received the most emphatic indorsement of the leading 
agricultural thinkers of the coimtry, the rural press, influential busi- 
ness associations, agricultural organizations, and is ex])licitly com- 
mended by President Taft in his address at the Kansas City Con- 
servation Congress, in this language: 

The welfare of the people is so dependent on improved a<iri cultural conditions 
that it seems wise to use the welfare clause of the Constitution to authorize the expen- 
diture of money for improvement in agricultural education and leave to the States 
and private enterprise general and other vocational education. The attitude of the 
Government in all this matter must be merely advisory. 

It is now proposed to organize a force of 8,000 men, one to every county in the 
United States, who will conduct experiments within the county for the edification 
and education of the X)resent farmers and of the young embryo farmers who are 
being educated. It is proposed that these men shall be partly paid by the county, 
partly by the State, and j^artly by the Federal Government; aiid it is hoped that the 
actual demonstration on the farms in the county — not agricultural stations or schools 
somewhere in the State — but in the county itself, shall bring home to the farmers 
what is possible to do Avith the very soil that they themselves are engaged upon. 

The jninciple of agricultural extension work, through field instruc- 
tion and demonstrations, is recognized by every leading country of 
Europe, including the British Empire, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, 
France, Hungaiy, Italy, Holland, Germany, Russia, and Belgium. 

It is a significant fact that 25 years ago the agriculture of Belgium 
was in a most (lej)lorable and discouraging condition. The wise men 
of the nation, seeking a remedy for this situation, estal)lished a sys- 
tem of extension work in agriculture, such as is j)roj)osed in this bill, 
which in this l)rief period has completely revolutionized this founda- 
tion of all industries and governments, and has placed Belgium in the 
front rank of agricultural nations. The committee desires to submit 
the follo^ving brief authentic table, showing the remarkable results 



4 AGRICULTURAL EXTENSI(3N DEPARTMENTS. 

obtained only through the influence of this work of teaching the adult 
rural population of Belgium: 



Crop. 


1880-1885 


1907-1910 


Increase. 


Wheat 


Bushels, t 
24.54 ; 
23.86 [ 
49.79 
38.25 ! 


Busheh. 
38. 55 
36. 69 
81.48 
57.57 


Bushels. 
14.01 


Rye 


12. 73 


Oats 


31.69 




19.32 







It is likewise significant, as pointed out by authorities in agricul- 
ture, that the farmers of Europe are producing two and one-half to 
three times as much per acre as American farmers, and this in the 
face of the fact that the European lands have been under cultivation 
for many centuries and were perhaps originally not so fertile as ours. 

Fortunately the conditions of Belgium, before the establishment 
of agricultural extension departments, as yet have not come entirely 
upon our coimtry, but your committee is not unmindful of tlie strik- 
ing similarity in tendencies. Soil fertility is undenia})ly decreasing, 
especially in the (dder States, and production is failuig to keep pace 
with the demands of the nonagricultural classes At the })resent 
ratio the time is not far in the future when we shall cease to produce 
sufficient foodstufl's with which to supply tlie Nation. It becomes 
the im])erative duty of Congress to check these tendencies which, if 
permitted to continue, must bring about a deplorable condition. 
Your committee recommends this bill as furnishmg a remedy with 
which to avoid these inevitable consequences — a remedy found all- 
sufficient in Belgium and other European countries and whicli is not 
entirely untried in this country. 

Some years ago the ravages of the cotton-boll weevil in Texas 
attracted the attention of the Nation, and Congress a})propriated 
liberally to the eft'ort to stamp it out. Tlie necessity for a vigorous 
campaign to save the cotton crop of the Soutli resulted in the forma- 
tion of the farmers' cooj^erative demonstration work in 1904, organ- 
ized by and under the direction of the late Dr. Seaman A. Knapp. 
The salient features of this system are: 

First, the personal contact of the instructor with the farmers receiving instructions; 
secondly, the participation of the farmer receiving instruction in the actual demon- 
stration of the lesson to be taught; thirdly, the certainty of success under normal con- 
ditions of the method advocated. From a small beginning, with but few trained men 
in the field, it has grown, develoj)ed, and been systematized into a great movement 
for the wide dissemination of agricultural knowledge for the man, the wife, the boy, 
and the girl on the farm. * * * To-day it is directly instructing practically 
100,000 farmers, 75,000 farmers' boys, and 25,000 farmers' girls. The farmers are 
divided into two classes — the one class called the "demonstrators," whose farms are 
actually visited by an agent once in every 30 days dm"ing the crop-growing season, or 
practically 8 to 10 times each year, and even more; the other, called "cooperators," 
are grouped around about the farm of the demonstrator, and are called together upon it 
for the ■|)urpose of coming into contact Avith the agent and receiving personal instruc- 
tion. * * * Briefly stated, it seeks to press home such lessons as the better drain- 
age of the soil, the deeper and more thorough preparation of soil ff)r planting, the value 
of better seed, how to produce it, how to select it and keep it pure, the testing of seed 
before planting, the pro])er spacing of plants to suit the plant, soil, and climate, the 
value of inten.sive cultivation during the growing season for conservation of moisture, 
the importance of humus in the soil, and the use of barnyard manure, farm refuse, 
and commercial fertilizers, the value of crop rotation and winter cover crops on south- 
ern farms, for maintenance and building up of fertility, the use of nnjre horse i)ower 
and less hand power, and the accomplishment of more work in a day, the use of better 
tools for the same purpose, the great importance of live stock as a part of the permanent 



AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 5 

i^ystem of a,L;riculture, the ^^'oduction of all home su]jplies of food required for men and 
animals on the farm, and the keeping of an aecount in order to know whence the profits 
and whence the loss in the farm operations. 

Tlio foregoing is an outline of the work us given ])y Dr. Bradford 
Kna])}) in a recent address. Your eomiuittee is informed and 
believes that this system of bringing home to the actual farmer upon 
his actual farm the best methods ( f agriculture is working a revolu- 
tion in the agricultiu-e of the South. The ])ro])ose(l legislation 
intends to do this same kind of work on a bigger, bn)ader, and better 
scale, under the direction ( f State rather than Federal authorities, 
believing that each State has its own })eculiar problems wliicli can be 
worked out best under local environment. Yoin* committee confi- 
dently ex])ects the system provided for in the bill recommended for 
your favorable consideration to do for the wli<>le country, in a larger 
measure, what has been accom])lished for tlie South in a smaller 
way under the farmers' cooperative demonstration work. 

Your c(^mmittee submits for the infornuition of the House the 
following brief analysis of the bill by sections: 

Section 1 autliorizes that agricultural extension departments nuiy 
be established in each State in connection with its land-grant college 
or colleges and permits the State in which two (;r more such colleges 
have been or shall be established to designate whicJi may administer 
the funds. 

Section 2 defines tlie ol^ject and chity <(f these agricultural extension 
departments to be to give instruction and ])ractical demonstrations 
in agriculture and home economics througJi field demonstrations, 
publications, and otherwise. 

Section 3 makes frankable printed matter and correspondence for 
the furtherance of tiie purposes of the act, issued from the agricul- 
tural colleges or by agents of the extension departments therec f. 
This privilege is necessary in order that the ])lan of tlie bill may be 
executed. 

Section 4 is the aj)pr()j>riating section of the biU and provides that 
a sum of $10,000 shall be aj)proi)riated anntuilly to each State which 
shall assent to the provisions of the act. This annual appropriation 
is a straight, unconchtional appropriation to the several States, and 
amounts each year to a charge uj)()n the Treasury of $480,000. The 
additional sum of $800,000 is a})])roj)riated for the fiscal year 1914 
and an annual increase of this appropriation of $300,000 a year, over 
the preceding year, for a ])eriod of nine years is provided until the 
total amount of additional ap)>ro])riations will be the sum of $3,000,000 
annually. But these additional apj)r()priations, or this sum of 
$3,000,000 annually, is to l)e allotted among the several States in the 
proportion which their rural population hears to the total rural |)oi)ula- 
tion of the United States, as determined by the next j)rece(ling Federal 
census. The Census Bureau defines as "urban })opulation that resid- 
ing in cities and other incorporated places of 2,500 inhabitants or 
more, inclucfing the New England towns of that ])Oj)ulation." The 
bill provides a sum of $10,000 per year to each State unconditionally, 
and })rovides also that no State is to be entitled to any part of its 
allotment of the additional sums until its legislature has ])rovided 
for the establishment of agricultural extension departments, as })ro- 
vided in section 1 of this bill, and it requires further that no State 
§hall receive of these additional aj){)ro])riations a sum exceeding the 
sum appropriated by its legislature for that year for this purpose, or 



6 



AGEICULTUKAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 



provided by State, county, college, or local aiithontv. The idea is 
that there must be furnished to these extension departments by some 
authority other than the Federal authority as much as is provided 
by the Federal Government — no more and no less. 
"For example, the allotment to a given State might be the sum of 
S50,000, which the State would receive if it should duplicate this 
amount, but it might happen that the State would desire to appro- 
priate for such a purpose only $25,000, in which event such State 
would l)e entitled only to $25,000 of the Federal funds in addition to 
the $10,000 which is given each year unconditionally. The com- 
mittee submits a table showing the total population of the United 
States by States and the total rural population by States, and the 
amount of these additional sums to which each State will be entitled 
under the basis of allotment as provided in the bill wdien the act 
shall mature at the end of 10 years, to which must be added for 
each State the sum of $10,000 unconditionally appropriated. 
The table is as follows: 



state. 


Total popu- 
lation. 


Total rural 
population. 


Per cent 
of total 
rural popu- 
lation in 
the United 
States and 
by States, i 


Amount of 
appropria- 
tion allotted 
each State, 


Ignited States 


91,972,266 


49,348,883 


53.7 


$3,000,000 




2,138,093 : 

204,354 
1,574,449 
2,377,549 

799,024 
1,114,756 

202,322 

752,619 
2. 609, 121 

325, 594 
5,638,591 
2,700,876 
2,224,771 
1,690,949 
2,289,905 
1,6.')6,388 

742,371 
1,295,346 
3,. 366. 416 
2,810,173 
2.075,708 
1.797.114 
3.293.335 

376. 053 

1,192.214 

81,875 

430, 572 
9,113,614 
2,537,167 

327,301 
2,206,287 

577,056 
4,767,121 
1,657,155 

672,765 
7,665,111 

542,610 
1,515,400 

.583,888 
2,184,789 
3,896,542 

373,351 

355,956 
2,061,612 
1,141,990 
1,121,119 
2,333,860 

145,965 


1,767,662 

141,094 

1,371,768 

907,810 

394, 184 

114,917 

105,237 

533,539 

2,070,471 

255,696 

2,161,662 

1,557,041 

1,544,717 

1.197.159 

1.734.463 

1.159.872 

360,928 

637,154 

241,049 

1,483,129 

1,225,414 

1,589,803 

1,894,518 

242,633 

881,362 

68,508 

175,473 

1,928,120 

629,957 

280,730 

1,887,813 

513, 820 

2,101,978 

1,337,000 

365,705 

3,034,442 

17,956 

1,290,568 

507, 215 

1,743,744 

2,958,438 

200,417 

187,013 

1,585,083 

536,460 

992,877 

1,329,540 

102,744 


3.58 

.29 
2.78 
1.84 

,80 

.23 

,21 
1.08 
4,19 

,52 
4,38 
3,16 
3,13 
2, 43 
3.51 
2.35 

.73 
1.29 

.49 
3.01 
2.48 
3.22 
3.84 

,49 
1.79 

.14 

,35 
3,91 
1,28 

.57 
3,83 
1.04 
4,26 
2.71 

.74 
6.15 

.04 
2.62 
1.03 
3.53 
5.99 

.41 

.38 

3.21 

1.08 

2.01 

1 2.69 

,21 


107,400 




8,700 




83,400 




.55,200 




24,000 




6,900 




6,300 


Florida 


32,400 




125,700 




15,600 


Illinois 


131,400 




94,800 




93,900 


Kansas 


72,900 
105,300 




70, 500 




21,900 




38, 700 




14,700 




90,300 




74, 400 




96, 600 




115.200 




14,700 




.53,700 




4,200 




10,500 




117,300 




38,400 




17,100 




114,900 


North Dakota 


31,200 


Ohio ^^ 

Oklahoma ^^ . Wm^- 

Oregon -9^%^ 


127,800 
81,300 
22,200 

184,500 


Rhode' Island , . ^ '^ 


1 1,200 




78,600 


South Dakota ^^ 

Tennessee ^k- - "^ ■■■/■} 

Texas .^P^ .\A, 

Utah . . .r \J 


30,900 
105,900 
179,700 

12,300 




1 11,400 




1 96,300 




32,400 




60,300 




80,700 


Wyoming 


6,300 



AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENTS. 7 

It made mandatory that not less than 75 per cent of all moneys 
available under this act shall be expended each year for field instruc- 
tion and demonstrations. The remainder of the money is available 
for extension work proper, home economics, and allied subjects. 

The remaining sections, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, deal largely with the 
administrative features of the bill and follow closely the adminis- 
trative features of the Hatch ami Adams Acts. 

The committee recommends the following amendments: 

On page 2, line 7, after the word "two." insert the words '"or 
more." 

On page 5, line 4, after the word "equal," strike out the word 
^'quarterly" and insert the word "semiannual." 

On page 5. line 5, after the word "January," strike out the conuna 
and the word ''April" and the comma, and insert the word "and"; 
and after the word "July" strike out the comma and the words " and 
October." 

On page 6, line 22, after the word "the," strike out the word 
"next"; and after the word ''Congress" strike out the comma and 
insert the follo^^'ing: "next succeeding a session of the legislature of 
any State from which a certificate has been withheld." 



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